West Ham v Liverpool Betting Tips: Klopp’s men back to winning ways?

Betting preview with latest odds and tips

West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini won two titles during his time at Manchester City. His old employers will be hoping for a favour from their former boss as the Hammers host Liverpool tonight.

The bad news for City is that the East Londoners are woefully out of sorts and head into this match off three successive defeats.

Can the Hammers reverse their fortunes under the lights? Or will Jurgen Klopp’s men get back to winning ways and re-establish their five point gap at the top of the table?

You can catch the action live on Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports Main Event from 8pm tonight, but first check out our preview.

Head-to-Head

Jurgen Klopp has won his last four matches in charge of Liverpool against West Ham.

The Reds have score four times in each of those encounters, with Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane (x2) and Daniel Sturridge on target in a 4-0 win at Anfield earlier in the season.

Liverpool also won 4-1 on their most recent visit to the London Stadium to continue their winning record at the Hammers’ new home.

Likely XIs

The Hammers have been run ragged in midfield in recent weeks. So Pellegrini may decide to opt for a more defensive approach with Pedro Obiang, Mark Noble and Declan Rice making up a flat three.

That would allow Robert Snodgrass and Felipe Anderson to provide width for target man Andy Carroll in a lone striker role. Lukasz Fabianski is touch-and-go between the sticks.

Liverpool have James Milner back available after suspension and the versatile midfielder should slot in at right-back. Georginio Wijnaldum, Fabinho and Naby Keita are expected to make up the midfield.

Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane will all continue in their forward roles.

Key Battles

West Ham will obviously need to keep a handle on Liverpool’s forwards to have any chance of getting something from this game. But the bigger battle could come in the midfield.

The Hammers were overrun in the middle of the park by League One no-hopers AFC Wimbledon in the FA Cup last week. A similar showing here could see things get messy for the hosts.

Carroll’s aerial battle with Virgil van Dijk should provide us with a Premier League throwback.

Goalscorer Odds

The Coral traders don’t give West Ham much of a prayer tonight. They’re out at 8/1, with the Draw at 21/5 and Liverpool heavily odds-on at 1/3. Similarly, it’s 2/1 for the Reds to Win and Over 3.5 Goals in the match for the fifth time in a row against the Hammers.

The Reds have no shortage of likely scorers tonight. Six players are priced 2/1 or shorter, with Salah 4/5 to make it five goals in four matches against the Hammers.

The Egyptian has opened the scoring twice in that time, and is 14/5 to Score First here. Mane is 8/5 Anytime and 11/2 to follow up his brace earlier in the reverse fixture with another tonight.

West Ham, on the other hand, will be looking towards Andy Carroll to net against his former club at 11/4. Michail Antonio is the only Hammers player available to have scored against the Reds since 2016.

He has four goals in six matches against them and is 13/2 Anytime or 25/1 to Score Last off the bench.